The Wolf Pack began the season 8-0, the best start in the school's Division I history, but has shown mortality down the stretch of non-league play by splitting its last six games.

The first of those two losses – to Texas Tech and TCU, who are ranked 22nd and 10th, respectively, in this week Top 25 – were understandable defeats. But, Nevada’s final non-conference game resulted in a head-scratching 66-64 loss to San Francisco, a solid team but not one expected to challenge for a conference title.

“It tarnishes it a little bit, but all we can do is learn from it and use it to make us a better team,” guard Kendall Stephens said of the impact the USF loss had on Nevada’s non-conference results. “If you get down on yourself, the losses end up accumulating and it can end up resulting in more losses. We just have to learn from it and kind of go back to the drawing board a little bit and figure out what got us in this situation.”

While the loss hurt the Wolf Pack’s résumé – Caleb Martin said Nevada’s “at-large is over” – Nevada is still the favorite to repeat as MW champions as the season shifts to conference play Wednesday when the Wolf Pack plays at Fresno State. Here is a look at Nevada’s quest to win the MW regular-season title, which wouldn’t guarantee a spot in the NCAA Tournament but would help the team’s case.

A repeat champion?

Since the MW was created in 1999, the conference has had back-to-back outright regular-season champions just once, that occurring when BYU won titles in 2006-07 and 2007-08. This is the 19th season of MW basketball and in the previous 18 years, there was an outright champ in just 11 seasons, so splits have been nearly as common as outright titles. It’s been even rarer – almost unheard of – for a team to win back-to-back outright championships. Since Nevada moved to the MW in 2012, it has won five conference titles but has yet to defend a championship successfully, so the Wolf Pack’s task is tall.

What will it take?

The Wolf Pack won the MW title last season with a 14-4 conference record. Colorado State was second at 13-5, so Nevada needed all 14 of those victories to win the championship. The mark this season will likely be the same. If a team can post a 14-4 league record, it should win the MW – 14 wins have been enough to at least grab a share of the title in each of the last three years. The top of the MW is stronger than it’s been in recent seasons, so it’s unlikely any team will post a record better than 14-4 despite the MW’s bottom three – New Mexico, Air Force, San Jose State – being suspect and likely serving as easy wins.

Who are the chief challengers?

Boise State, San Diego State, UNLV and Fresno State can all make arguments they’re the Wolf Pack’s chief challenger. While Nevada ranks 36th in Ken Pomeroy’s advanced metrics, those next four teams are all in the 56-69 range and lurk as potential conference champions. Boise State’s defense has been elite; SDSU has the conference’s best pair of wins (over Gonzaga and Georgia); UNLV has rebounded from the worst season in program history to post an 11-2 record (against a soft schedule) while boasting the league’s only true center; and Fresno State, a veteran team, usually gives the Wolf Pack issues.

What are Nevada’s strengths?

Nevada has the MW’s best offense by a fair margin. The Wolf Pack’s ranks 20th in the nation in offensive efficiency, per KenPom, while no other MW school is in the top 65. Nevada is second in the MW in points per game, third in field-goal shooting, first in 3-point shooting, third in free throws made per game and first in assist-to-turnover ratio. Nevada’s high-end talent is hard to match as the Wolf Pack has three players capable of winning MW player of the year honors in Jordan Caroline, Caleb Martin and Cody Martin. The Wolf Pack also is battled-tested after playing the MW’s hardest non-conference schedule, which included five true road games, three neutral-site games and six games at home.

What are Nevada’s weaknesses?

The Wolf Pack’s defense has not been bad – it ranks 70th in the nation, per KenPom, which places it third in the MW, but that defense has shown some holes during Nevada’s 3-3 record over its last six games. The Wolf Pack doesn’t have great frontcourt size, usually topping out with a 6-foot-7 player on the court, so it could be vulnerable there. The team’s on-ball defense has been substandard over the last month and Nevada doesn’t have a true rim protector, although it is third in the MW in blocks. The Wolf Pack is an average rebounding team – and doesn’t grab many offensive boards – and has limited depth, with only seven players averaging more than 7.8 minutes per game, a similar setup to last year.

Who are the league’s best player?

In addition to the Martin twins and Caroline, there are a few other conference player of the year candidates. UNLV freshman center Brandon McCoy, who stands 7-1, leads the MW in scoring (18.9), is second in rebounds (10.9), third in field-goal shooting (60.4) and fourth in blocks (1.9). His teammate, Shakur Juiston, is 11th in scoring and first in rebounds and field-goal shooting. Boise State’s Chandler Hutchison, the preseason player of the year, is averaging 15.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists. Fresno State’s Deshon Taylor has been terrific. One of those players will be the MW player of the year.

Will the MW return to multi-bid status?

After sending at least two teams to the NCAA Tournament in 15 of its first 16 seasons of existence, the MW has been a one-bid league each of the past two years. The MW peaked at five NCAA Tournament teams in 2012-13, but there’s been a downward trend since then. The MW has climbed back up the mountain to some degree this non-conference season, although the MW was still 1-7 against the RPI top 25 and 2-16 against the RPI top 50. That’s not good. The marks against top-100 teams is a little better (13-30 overall). The odds are the MW only gets one team into the NCAA Tournament, but there’s a solid chance – maybe 35 percent – the MW gets multiple teams to the tournament for the first time since 2014-15.

How does Nevada’s schedule set up?

The MW schedule includes home-and-home series with eight conference opponents and single-game sets with two teams. Nevada drew Air Force and New Mexico just once each, which will help the RPI as those are two of the MW’s three-worst teams, but that also means it will hurt Nevada in the race to win the conference title since those are two near guaranteed wins off the schedule. The Wolf Pack opens with a soft set of games as only one of its first six MW matchups are against conference title contenders. The back end of the schedule, however, is difficult. Nevada has back-to-back home games with UNLV and SDSU on Feb. 7 and 10 and closes the season with road games at UNLV and SDSU on Feb. 28 and March 3. Those are key stretches.

And it starts with?

Fresno State, which swept a pair of regular-season games against Nevada last season (the Wolf Pack got payback by beating the Bulldogs in the semifinals of the MW Tournament). The Wolf Pack plays at Fresno State on Wednesday in a game that has become one of the conference’s top rivalries, with the coaches on both sides being ultra-competitors who have butted heads. Nevada coach Eric Musselman has failed to win at only three MW schools in his first two go-arounds through the conference – Fresno State, SDSU and Colorado State. Musselman has played at SDSU and Colorado State only once each, but he’s 0-2 at Fresno State, losing 85-63 in his debut season and 77-76 last year. As Nevada looks to defend its MW title, its first challenge is snaring Musselman’s first victory at the Save Mart Center.

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at cmurray@rgj.com or follow him on Twitter @MurrayRGJ.